George Pal's ambitious science-fiction
movie project Destination Moon was one of the first space films
during the 50's that tried to put the emphasis on science instead of
fiction. Together with director Irvin Pichel and special effects
magician Lee Zavitz, he worked for two years on the most realistic
cinematic depiction of mankind's journey into space and first landing on
another planet to that date. Considering that the film was almost two
decades ahead of Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon and one decade
ahead of the space race between the US and Soviets it still got the
scenario surprisingly close and seems to represent the pinnacle of what
was considered as common scientific fact about space travels at that
time. The message of the film was both striking and close to what would
later become reality: The nation that reaches the moon first to built
missile stations there will benefit from a militaristic advantage - an
idea that would become the driving force in the real space race.
Therefore, it almost feels like a propaganda flick when you watch it
today but nevertheless it was an important film for the world of sci-fi
cinema.

The score:

Responsible for the musical course of
Pal's cinematic space flight was composer Leith Stevens who has mainly
worked for radio during the 40's and Destination Moon clearly
marked his big break in the world of film scoring. Both, producer Pal
and composer Stevens would later move deeper into the world of science
fiction with legendary films such as the apocalyptic When Worlds
Collide (1951) or the first big screen adaptation of H.G. Wells'
novel The War Of The Worlds (1953). For that reason you may
suffer a musical deja-vu when you watch these films since Stevens'
scores for this unofficial Pal-sci-fi trilogy are barely distinctive
from each other. In fact, if you heard his score for When Worlds
Collide you will already know what his score for The War Of The
Worlds is all about while the music for Destination Moon
stands out as being more subtle.

Stevens' opening 5-note space motif as
heard in "On The Earth" is a typically cheesy 50's composition with
screaming muted trumpets, nervous woodwinds and a descending line for
strings accompanied by light percussion like Xylophone to create tension
and curiosity as the film's opening credits are sliding slowly across
the screen. The track builds up until a fanfare notes the launch of a
test rocket with a disturbing sound effect of the engines at the end.
"In Outer Space" comes as a juggernaut suite of almost 20 minutes of
underscore that covers music from various scenes such as the mission
preparations and construction of the rocket before launch during the
first 10 minutes of the cue. A noteworthy moment is a passage for muted
trumpets that rises into a glorious and full orchestral motif as we fade
from a small rocket model to the actual ship. The strings continue with
the motif accompanied by busy Xylophone to underline the immense
activity on the construction side. Dramatic music for strings and horns
rises as the police is coming to prevent an earlier launch of the rocket
while the actual launch sequence is left unscored entirely.

The middle section of the cue is
focused on the actual journey to the moon with a glorious horn statement
descending into the 5-note space motif for muted trumpet to express the
beauty and loneliness of space. The crew's daily life in space in scored
with light-hearted strings and woodwinds and stops in the film when
astronaut Sweeney starts playing a harmonica. A magical figure for flute
combined with suspenseful strings accompany the crew's attempt to go
outside the rocket for repairs. Risings strings full of tension appear
when a crew member is slowly drifting into space and a lengthy passage
for dramatic and nervous music follows, including some grim brass
fanfares when the others are trying to rescue him. Suspenseful
statements of the space motif take over at the end of the cue and
accompany the beginning of the landing on the moon. Quiet strings create
a weird and alien mood in "On The Surface Of The Moon" which goes into a
strong and brassy statement of the space motif for the entire orchestra
as the panorama of the alien landscape is revealed and the cue ends with
rising strings as the crew finally sets foot on the moon.

"Escape From The Moon" actually follows
the crew's work on the surface with whirling flutes accompanying the
men's jumping at the end of the cue. Another lengthy cue of underscore
and suspense comes with "Finale" that goes on for 13 minutes and
accompanies the tricky launch from the moon. When the rocket finally
launches from the surface, the music becomes glorious again and the
score ends with a good orchestral climax.

RATING:

Score as
heard in the film:
70%

Score as
heard on CD:62%

TOTAL:
66%

The presentation:

First of all, what really sparkles
about Citadel Record's re-release of the score is the excellent sound
quality. I have hardly heard a better sounding film music recording from
the 50's. The sound is clean, bright and stereophonic. Maybe a little
thin at times but definitely superior to the film mix. The album's
arrangement, on the other hand, is not so perfect. It is chronological
and features all 42 minutes of the score but especially the endless
second track could have been divided into smaller cues. Nobody wants to
fast-forward such a lengthy cue only to reach one or two good moments.
The now hard to find release still deserves credit for the very good
sound but we better don't talk about the wishy-washy artwork.

Presentation by
the Label:61%

Summary:

There are
certainly some nice moments of good scoring in Leith Stevens' work for
Destination Moon but the way the album is arranged can make it
really complicated to discover these moments because the score is mainly
a mood-setter and you will have to dig through two lengthy cues with
lots of underscore that does not really achieve much separated from the
film. The score is much more subtle than Steven's latter work for the
genre and moves very slow, which was probably intended and it all works
perfectly with the images, but it does not really make a fluent
listening experience. It's one of those scores that can quickly float
away and starts to drag, which is even more true if you are not used to
scores from that time period. Nevertheless, I would recommend all fans
of sci-fi scores to take a listen or, even better, to watch the film.
Sure, the sound quality on CD is so much better but it is really one of
those scores that hardly works well if you don't know the movie. If you
liked what you heard in the film then it makes sense to keep an eye open
for the now OOP and hard to find CD.